Sensex, Nifty Clock Worst Day In Over A Month

Indian equity benchmarks clocked their biggest single-day drop since Oct. 11 ahead of outcome of state elections amid a global market selloff.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.6 percent or 572 points to 35,312 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 1.7 percent or 182 points to 10,601.

Investors are taking profits after a good rally ahead of outcome of state elections, AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital told BloombergQuint over phone. Selloff in equity markets across the globe also added to the selling pressure in India, he added.

All 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended lower led by the S&P BSE Energy Index's 2.35 percent fall.

Mid- and small-cap stocks were in-line with their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap Index dropped 1.5 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index tumbled 1.4 percent.

Nifty is in the middle of a correction up to 10,490-10,440 levels, Jai Bala of cashthechaos.com told BloombergQuint.

Support on downside for Nifty is in range of 10,615-10,440 levels while on the upside it faces resistance at 10,930, Bala said. He expects Nifty to touch record highs past 12,400-12,600 by middle of 2019.

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses dragged by Reliance Industries, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki.

The Sensex plunged 502 points or 1.4 percent to 35,381 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 1.5 percent or 162 points to 10,622.

The market breadth was extremely negative as nearly 1,800 shares were declining while a little over 600 shares were advancing on the BSE.

Shares of the Secunderabad-based courier service provider fell for ninth session in a row posting its longest losing streak since October 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The stock in last nine sessions has plunged 11.27 percent to Rs 80.70.

• Galaxy Surfactants: The Navi Mumbai-based chemical maker rose as much as 0.77 percent to Rs 1,180. Trading volume was 15 times its 20-day average.
• Alkem Labs: the Mumbai-based pharma company fell as much as 1.36 percent to Rs 1,890. Trading volume was more than nine times its 20-day average.
• Vakrangee: The Mumbai-based banking and financial services provider rose as much as 4.97 percent to Rs 39.05. Trading volume was more than nine times its 20-day average.
• Rallis India: The Tata Group fertiliser maker rose as much as 1.64 percent to Rs 170. trading volume was eight times its 20-day average.

Apollo Tricoat acquisition will benefit us as there is no other producer in the country using the Tricoat technology which results in lower costs in terms of zinc used and improves corrosive resistance ability of products, Ashok Gupta, MD of APL Apollo Tubes told BloombergQuint in an interview.

Key highlights of the conversation:

• First half was muted due to transporters strike in July and Kerala floods.
• Volatility in steel prices will have significant impact on the industry.
• Apollo Tricoat acquisition will benefit us as there is no other producer in the country using Tricoat technology
• Tricoat technology is already being used in U.S. and Japan
• New technology results in lower costs in terms of zinc used and improves corrosive resistance ability of products
• We are benefiting from oil marketing companies (OMCs) upgrading their refineries to become BS VI compliant
• Working capital had gone up due to uncertainty in steel procurement; We had stocked up more steel due to change in management in one of our main steel suppliers Bhushan Steel

• South Indian Bank has 14.2 lakh shares change hands in a block. Stock down 4.6 percent at Rs 15.40.
• Yes Bank has 10.8 lakh shares change hands in a block. Stock down 1.85 percent at Rs 170.
• Dish TV has 60.8 lakh shares change hands in three blocks. Stock down 2.4 percent at Rs 34.25.
• L&T Finance Holdings has 22.6 lakh shares change hands in a block deal. Stock down 0.2 percent at Rs 144.

Buyers and sellers were not immediately known

Source: Bloomberg

Indian equity benchmarks continue to fall weighed down by Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 394 points or 1.1 percent to 35,490 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index tumbled 1.2 percent or 129 points to 10,654.

All 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Realty Index's 2.6 percent drop. As many as fourteen indices fell over a percent each.

The overall market breadth was extremely bearish as 1,625 shares were declining while a little over 550 shares were advancing on the BSE.

Shares of the Bengaluru-based IT company rose as much as 3.67 percent to Rs 309.45 after it signed an agreement to acquire Australia headquartered Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner, Scalable Data Systems.

Shares of the country's largest carmaker fell as much as 4.13 percent, its biggest single-day fall since Oct. 17, to Rs 7,242.

The company had informed yesterday that it would increase price of vehicles across categories starting January citing higher commodity prices and foreign exchange rates.

Maruti Suzuki has so far this year fallen 24 percent compared with 5.4 percent gain in the Sensex.

Nifty's 10,500 put option contract was among the most active option contracts on the National Stock Exchange.

Premium on the contract rose 49 percent to Rs 118.40. Over 1.14 lakh shares were reduced from the open interest which stood at 34.14 lakh shares.

Click here to see the complete options chain

Shares of the Pune-based maker of pig iron and ferrous castings rose as much as 4.38 percent, the most in over a month, to Rs 93.

Kirloskar Ferrous has been selected as a preferred bidder for iron ore mine in Karnataka, the company said in an exchange filing.

Gauge of metal shares was the worst performer for second in a row after its slumped as much as 2.5 percent on top of yesterday's 3.6 percent decline.

Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Steel were among the top losers from this space.

Shares of the Hyderabad-based construction company fell as much as 9.6 percent, the most since Oct. 1, to Rs 75.80 on heavy volumes.

Trading volume was more than five times its 20-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Over 92 NCC lakh shares were traded on the National Stock Exchange as per the information on the NSE's website.

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses dragged by weakness in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1 percent or 355 points to 35,527 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 1.08 percent or 116 points to 10,667.

Shares of the Bengaluru-based software services company rose as much as 4.7 percent, the most in over a week, to Rs 911.95.

Mindtree’s largest investor and Café Coffee Day’s founder V.G. Siddhartha and a few other large shareholders are looking to offload their stakes in the company, reported Mint citing unnamed sources. Also, global private equity firm KKR has shown interest to purchase their stake.

Indian equity benchmarks dropped in-line with Asian peers weighed down by weakness in HDFC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and ITC.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.57 percent or 206 points to 35,674 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 0.66 percent or 71 points to 10,710.

All 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Metal Index's 1.8 percent fall. Realty, oil & gas, telecom and basic materials indices also fell over a percent each.

Mid- and small-cap stocks were also facing selling pressure as the S&P BSE MidCap Index fell 0.8 percent and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index declined 0.6 percent.

Rupee opened lower at 70.79 per dollar against yesterday's close of 70.47.

The home unit fell as much as 0.55 percent or 39 paise to 70.86 against the greenback.

Sovereign bonds are expected to extend their rally after the central bank signaled it may expand debt purchases till March through open market operations. The rally in bonds saw yield on the benchmark note dropping to its lowest since April. Traders expect the yield on the 10-year note to stay in a range of 7.35-7.42 percent in the day.

In the currency market, the implied opening from forwards suggest the pair may open around 70.7625 to a dollar. With the risk appetite weak, the local currency may continue to stay under pressure today. Most Asian currencies too are trading in the red.

Traders expect the pair to stay in a range of 70.65-71 a dollar for the day.

Credit Suisse on Tractors

• Tractor stocks de-rated on concerns that the industry is now poised for a decline in the next financial year.
• Near-normal monsoon, state subsidies and strong construction activity to help sustain strong growth for two years
• Post a sharp de-rating, Escorts and M&M trade at very attractive valuations.
• Expect Escorts to grow faster than industry and improve margins at the same time.

HSBC on UPL

• Maintained ‘Buy’; hiked price target to Rs 880 from Rs 850.
• Strong Latin America performance could continue with more sowing in Brazil.
• Trade war to benefit UPL in LatAm markets; global consolidation another opportunity.
• UPL to gain market share with high quality generic and innovative products.

JPMorgan on Aurobindo Pharma

• Maintained ‘Overweight’; hiked price target to Rs 940 from Rs 835.
• Building on the core business growth through recent acquisitions.
• Auro’s execution should provide comfort on the Sandoz deal.
• Sandoz deal is unlikely to be RoIC dilutive unlike investments by peers.

Macquarie on Siemens

• Upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Underperform’; hiked price target to Rs 1,128 from Rs 811
• Business mix steadily moving towards short cycle product business.
• Expect margin recovery to continue which would drive 13 percent earnings CAGR over FY18-21.
• Value Siemens at 10 percent premium to Cummins on business diversification and large opportunity size.

CLSA on HCL Tech

• Maintained ‘Buy’ with a price target of Rs 1,500.
• Expect return of large deal wins to drive organic growth acceleration.
• Mega deal wins, IP launches and low PE make HCL Tech Top Buy.
• HCL promises highest stock return among peers given its rerating potential & high-teen EPS growth.

• Nifty December futures closed trading at 10,828, premium of 44 points.
• Max open interest for December series at 11,000 Call option, open interest at 27.8 lakh shares.
• Max open interest for December series at 10,000 Put option, open interest at 38.9 lakh shares.

Bulk Deals

Inox Wind

• Prime India Opportunity Fund acquired 47.5 lakh shares or 2.14 percent equity at Rs 79.3 each.
• Nomure Singapore sold 47.5 lakh shares or 2.14 percent equity at Rs 79.3 each.

Trading Tweaks

• Capital Trust price band revised to 10 percent.

Who’s Meeting Whom

• Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services to meet Enam Holdings on Dec. 6.
• Sandhar Technologies to meet ICIC Pru MF, SBI MF and other investors from Dec. 6-7.
• Dr LalPathLabs to meet Morgan Stanley, India Nivesh and other investors from Dec. 7-14.

• Power Grid Corporation of India was declared a successful bidder under tariff based competitive pricing to establish transmission system for 2 X 660MW Thermal Power Project and construction of 400Kv substation with associated lines in Uttar Pradesh.
• Cabinet will consider the proposal for PFC acquiring entire government holding in state-owned REC, which will fetch the government around Rs 15,000 crore (PTI)
• Moody’s changed GlaxoSmithKline PLC outlook to negative from stable and its guaranteed subsidiaries. The change in outlook followed the company’s Dec. 03 announcement of its intention to acquire Tesaro for $5.1 billion as the company will deleverage more slowly than expected and credit metrics will remain weak for prolonged periods of time says Knut Slatten, Senior Analyst, Moody’s. (Bloomberg News)
• Tata Communications said it will collaborate with UROS Group to deploy Internet of Things and Smart City Solutions across large commercial and public sectors organisations globally.
• Deepak Nitrite: China phenol spot prices fall by 27 percent from Rs 1.3 lakh per metric ton to Rs 94,740 per metric ton since the beginning of November till date. Over the last five trading sessions, phenol prices have fallen by 6.7 percent in rupee terms. On Nov. 1 the company had announced commencement of production at its Mega Plant for phenol and acetone with a capacity of 200,000 MTPA for phenol and 1.2 lakh MTPA for its co-product Acetone.
• Adani Green Energy’s arm won a contract for 390 MW Wind-Solar Hybrid Auction at Rs 2.69 per KW-hour, said Sanjay Sharma, General Manager of Solar Energy Corporation of India. In the auctions for 840 MW worth of project the remaining tender was won by Softbank’s India JV for clean energy at a price of Rs 2.67 per KW-hour. (Bloomberg News)
• Sagar Cements board approved an investment of Rs 150 crore in Satguru Cement in order to set up green field cement manufacturing plant of 1 million-ton capacity and waste heat recovery plant in Madhya Pradesh. The board also approved investment of Rs 108 crore in Jajpur Cements to set up green field grinding unit of 1.5 million-ton capacity in Odisha. The company says both these projects are being planned to be completed by March 2021 The cement company will issue convertible warrants worth Rs 224.75 crores.
• Kirloskar Industries clarified that the news of promoter group of insider trading will not impact the company materially as this case refers to the purchase of shares in its arm in 2010 and the SEBI had not initiated any inquiry or investigation against the company.
• Lemon Tree Hotels opened a 201-room hotel property in Pune.
• Elecon Engineering board said it will consider raising Rs 150 crore via Non-Convertible Debentures on Dec. 10.

• SFIO says top executives led IL&FS to its ruin
• India monetary policy: Status quo on interest rate and stance
• OPEC+ recommends oil cuts, but no deal yet on size of reductions
• Bullish on stocks in 2019? Just ‘wishful thinking,’ Investec says
• CCI can’t probe Jio’s cartelisation charge against rivals
• Yes Bank looks to blame rival for bad press
• India sweeps top ten in list of world’s fastest-growing cities
• How home, auto loan rates will change from April
• Boards should be tasked with saving promoters from themselves
• It’s the worst time to make money in markets since 1972
• World’s biggest game is coming for Apple and Google’s app stores

Good Morning!

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of NSE Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, fell 0.8 percent or 86 points to 10,747 as of 7:21 a.m.

Stocks dropped in Asia with U.S. equity futures, suggesting a resumption of the selling pressure investors have coped with for much of this quarter. Hong Kong shares tumbled after the arrest of the chief financial officer of China tech giant Huawei Technologies Co.

Japan and Hong Kong shares bore the brunt of selling on Thursday and the reopening of the Treasuries market saw the yield on the benchmark 10-year note dipping below 2.90 percent at one point, extending the recent retreat. S&P 500 Index futures had a volatile start Thursday with data indicating the CME Group had to pause trading.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of the article!

Stocks

• Japan’s Topix Index fell 1.5 percent as of 10:30 a.m. in Tokyo.
• Hang Seng dropped 1.8 percent.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.8 percent.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 1.1 percent.
• Kospi Index was down 0.9 percent.

Currencies

• The yen rose 0.4 percent to 112.80 per dollar.
• The offshore yuan slipped 0.3 percent to 6.8777 per dollar.
• The euro bought $1.1347.
• The British pound was at $1.2723.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4 percent to $52.70 a barrel, after reaching the highest in two weeks.
• Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,240.34 an ounce.